John 1:19-34 “Jesus: The Lamb of God”
Scripture: John 1:19-34
Memory Verse: John 1:29b “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Lesson Focus: We will explore John the Baptist’s testimony of Jesus Christ being the Lamb of God. We will dig into several OT texts to show how this has always been God’s plan to rescue mankind from their sin. Furthermore, we will look at how just as Jesus Christ walked by the Spirit, so He calls His followers to do the same.
Activities and Crafts: Coloring Picture of Jesus Baptism, Word Search of different terms from lesson, Make It Real Discussion for 3rd – 5th. Craft for 1st & 2nd: Holy Spirit as a dove
Starter Activity: John the Baptist Testimony Skit
Before we get into the skit, have a brief discussion about what it means to be a witness.
Q: What does it mean to be a witness for Jesus Christ? A: We tell others about what Jesus has said and did. We might also tell people how the love of Jesus Christ has changed us. We also stand out by being kind and loving to others.
Read John 1:6-8. We briefly touched on these verses last week introducing John the Baptist as the leader of God’s pep rally. Q: What do these verses say John the Baptist’s purpose was? A: To be a witness to the Light, which was Jesus Christ.
Teachers: Transition now into the skit. We will essentially act out John 1:19-27 (with some additions from other gospels) which is John the Baptist’s testimony before the Jewish religious leaders. You will need 2-4 volunteers that can read the script. Have the rest follow John 1:19-27 in their Bibles. See the last page of the lesson for the breakdown of how these verses will be acted out. You, as the teacher, will be John the Baptist. Consider coming dressed in costume that day just to add some more sparkle to the skit (optional)! If possible, please ask another leader to be the Pharisee and have him/her organize the other two roles between the student volunteers to help them. Afterwards, wrap up the skit with the following discussion:
Q: Who was the focus of John the Baptist’s testimony: himself or someone else? A: Jesus! John the Baptist was telling them all he was a “nobody”. He was merely a pointer to the coming King, the leader of the pep rally for the King.
1 Bible Study:
John 1:28: All of this happened in a particular place near the river Jordan. This is a real place and today people visit this place and get baptized themselves! Remember: what is recorded here is all REAL history. That means these are REAL people, REAL places, REAL events. Not fairy tales!
John 1:29: The red carpet has been rolled out by John the Baptist and now we have the King fully entering the scene.
Q: What does it mean to “behold” something? A: To fix your eyes on something! John the Baptist wants to open our eyes in wonder as we gaze upon Jesus Christ. He wants us to be “Wowed”.
Because this is the moment that God has been planning for thousands of years! The OT has been building up to this moment where God the Son, the promised Messiah, begins His earthly ministry as a man. Even John the Baptist’s coming was planned as in v. 23, John the Baptist says that he was just a voice to point people to the King. This was prophesied 700 years earlier in Isaiah 40:3.
John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Q: What do you think this means? We are going to spend some time digging back into the OT to better understand what this title means and to show how much of the OT points to Jesus Christ being this Lamb of God.
Genesis 22: This is the account of Abraham being tested by God to sacrifice his only son, Isaac the miracle child, to God. While God was only testing Abraham’s faith, Abraham didn’t know that and we see a few things in the text:
Read v. 2: This is the first mention of the word “love” in the Bible. Just as Abraham loved his only son whom he was told to give up, God the Father loved His only Son whom He gave to the whole world (John 3:16). Read v. 7-8: Notice Isaac is starting to freak out a little bit. He asks Abe, “where is the lamb”? Abe trusts God will provide and God does in v. 13. As the lamb dies in the place of Isaac, so Jesus died in our place because of our sin!
Exodus 12: Several hundred years after Abraham now we have this account of God judging Egypt with the final plague by which God’s people would be rescued.
Q: When you think of Moses, what comes to mind?
God’s people, who are the great, great, great grandchildren of Abraham and Isaac, have been slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years. Moses has been raised up by God to rescue them and so far there have been nine plagues which God has brought upon Egypt through Moses. This final plague is described in this chapter.
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Read v. 21: Moses commanded the people to sacrifice a lamb and put the blood around the doorframe of their home. By this, God’s judgment would “pass over” them. God struck the Egyptian people with this plague and Pharaoh finally let them go!
Read v. 26: This became something God’s people were to remember every year! Just as they were to remember the Passover lamb by which God’s judgment passed over them, we are to look to Jesus, the Lamb of God, through whom God “passes over” our sins!
Isaiah 53: Another several hundred years pass and we have this amazing prophecy of the promised Messiah from Isaiah.
Q: What is prophecy? God sees the “end from the beginning” and sometimes tells us beforehand what will happen in the future!
Read v. 6-7: First we are told that we are all sinners, for we have “gone astray”. But God has raised up the Messiah to bear our sin! But look at how v. 7 describes him: like a lamb that was led to the slaughter. Once again, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!
Q: What does it mean to anticipate something? It means you are excited and look forward to something (maybe vacation, going to football game, Christmas, etc.)!
We spent this extra time on doing this OT homework to show you that the OT anticipates, or looks forward to, and prepares for the coming of this Lamb of God. Jesus did not just come out of nowhere! The Father sent John the Baptist to get everyone ready, because Jesus was God’s rescue plan from the beginning.
John 1:30-31: John the Baptist continues his witness pointing people away from himself and to Jesus.
Q: In v. 31 it says that He is to be revealed to Israel. What does it mean to reveal something? *
Jesus has been walking this earth for about 30 years quietly and out of the spotlight, probably just working with His earthly dad, Joseph, as a humble carpenter. But now it was time for Him to be revealed as the Messiah and Savior of the world.
John 1:32-34: At this time, John the Baptist tells us that the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and remained with Him. Notice in v. 33 we have all three Persons of the Trinity referenced. The Father said that God the Spirit would fall upon Jesus, God the Son, and by this John the Baptist would know Jesus was the promised Messiah.
Read Isaiah 61:1: This was also prophesied hundreds of years beforehand, that the Messiah would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish His work!
3 Q: But why would Jesus have the Holy Spirit come upon Him since He was fully God? Couldn’t He have done all that He did (heal the sick, calm the storm, etc.) by His own power? A: Because Jesus came to live a real human life, like one of us! He experienced the same limitations and struggles that we all experience! So as a man, he relied on the Holy Spirit to grant Him the power he needed to live His life perfectly.
He didn’t just play the “God card” every time things got hard. Rather, He prayed to the Father and He relied on the Holy Spirit to empower Him to do the great things He did.
Key Point: This is why Jesus truly understands what we are going through. When life gets hard and you cry out to Him for help, He can say, “I know, I was there”.
Furthermore, later on in this book Jesus tells us that the same Holy Spirit will come upon all those who believe in Him and follow Him. In this way then, just as Jesus Christ walked by the Spirit, all of those who follow Him are called to walk by the same Spirit!
As we behold the Lamb of God who takes away our sins by faith, we receive the same Holy Spirit and He will begin to change us to make us look more and more like Jesus.
What does that look like? We walk in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control! (Galatians 5:22) Ask Jesus to help you walk in this way! Like John the Baptist, stand out and be a witness for Jesus Christ by walking in the Spirit!
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Lesson Theme: “Jesus: The Lamb of God” Scripture: John 1:19-34
Memory Verse: John 1:29b “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Teachers/Parents: We discussed witnessing and how John the Baptist gave his testimony pointing people away from himself and to Jesus Christ. This is key as sometimes we can be tempted to make our testimony more about us than about Jesus Christ. Share an experience or story where you gave your testimony as a witness to Jesus Christ and how the audience responded.
Discussion Questions:
1) What are some ways that you can be a better witness for Jesus Christ? Is being a good witness only about talking to people about Jesus or is there more to it? (Read Matthew 5:16)
2) Read Isaiah 40:3. John the Baptist identifies himself as this “voice” in John 1:23. This is pretty amazing considering this prophecy was written 700 years earlier. What does this prophecy teach us about who Jesus is, the One which John the Baptist is preparing the way for?
3) Read John 1:29. John the Baptist is trying to startle us and get our attention when he says “Behold”. Read 1 John 3:1. There is that word again. What are some things that you need to get your eyes off of to better “behold” the great love of God expressed in the Lamb of God with eyes of faith and trust?
4) Read Luke 3:21-22 which is one parallel account to what we read in John. What three Persons do you see all working together, but independently, in these two verses?
5) Read John 1:32. This is where the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and His earthly ministry truly begins. Read also Isaiah 11:1-2 and Isaiah 42:1. What connection do you see between these OT prophecies and what you read in John 1:32?
6) In class we talked about how Jesus truly lived His earthly life as a man and was empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the great things He did. When life got hard for Him, He didn’t just play the “God card” to make things easy. Read Hebrews 2:17-18. How should the fact that He suffered like we suffer draw us closer to Him?
5 John the Baptist Testimony Script
Characters: John the Baptist, Pharisee, Priest, Levite, and baptized person
The act should begin by John the Baptist pretending to baptize someone. Have John kneel on the ground and “dunking” the baptized person.
John (to baptized person): I baptize you with water unto repentance, go and sin no more. But know that He who is coming after me is mightier than I and He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
The group of Jewish religious leaders now approach John while baptizing (looking very grumpy)
John (to religious leaders): Greetings, brood of vipers! Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!
Pharisee: Who do you think you are doing all this? Are you the Christ?
John: I am not the Christ.
Priest: What then? Are you Elijah?
John: I am not.
Levite: Are you the Prophet?
John: No.
Pharisee: Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?
John: As the prophet Isaiah said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord.”
Pharisee: If you are not the Christ, or the Prophet, or Elijah, then why are you baptizing?
John: I baptize with water, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to even touch His sandals. Get ready, He is coming!
Pharisee (to priest/Levite): Let’s go back to Jerusalem and tell the rest of the Pharisees that this guy is nuts! (religious leaders leave laughing)
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